Rivers of Differences
by frickangel
Summary: A CSI&MX crossover. Two new CSI's could very well change the perception of mutations for many, as they investigate the disappearances and deaths of some even more bizzare circumstances. The MX team finally appears!
1. chapter 1

Disclaimer: We do not own the world of Mutant-X or even CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and its characters. Both are own by Tribune Entertainment and CBS respectively. Although some of the characters and the story is owned by frickangel/Freak@ngel and RK9.

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Rivers of Differences.

Chapter 1

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Between the shiny floors and the light blue-ish tinge of the fluorescent lights, Alexis Lim walked down the CSI building, searching for her superior. Taking two rights after her last three lefts, she pushed back her shoulder length dark brown hair behind her ears as she smoothed her black baby-T with her free hand. The office loomed closer.

"I'm telling you Gris, we don't need another CSI officer in here. Especially not some newbie over."

The Asian woman stopped and listened. She didn't mean to eavesdrop, but she couldn't help it when her sensitive hearing would pick up little tid-bits of this sort. It comes in handy when hearing out for information. From the available glass window of the slightly ajar door, Alexis could make out a rather well built dark haired man bending over the desk looking straight at an older man seated behind the same desk.

"I mean it's not like we have time to baby-sit this new guy."

The one he had called 'Gris' took off his glasses and stared back just as intently. "Well it's not singular Nick, it's plural."

"As in _guys_?" Nick answered back disbelievingly.

"You want something from Grissom?"

Alexis whirled behind and paused to study the speaker just before she smiled at a petite blonde lady. "Well, I'm supposed to report to him. I mean to Grissom."

"Well than knock," she replied politely.

Deep breathes in; Alexis rapped the door and pushed it slightly, poking her head in at the same time. "Mr. Grissom?"

Nick took two steps away from the desk. 

"Yes?" Grissom answered her hail.

"Alexis Lim?"

"You the new CSI?" The blonde asked as she squeezed past Alexis.

Giving more space for the woman to walk through, Alexis answered, "Uh…yeah."

Grissom gave Nick a meaningful look. "Meet the new '_Guy_' Nick."

Suppressing a small chuckle that was escaping, Alexis held out her hand at Nick, "Hi."

Jerking awake, he pulled out his right hand from his khaki pants and extended it to her. "Hi, I'm Nick Stokes."

"Catherine." The blonde woman jumped in with a small smile etched on her pretty face. "Catherine Willows."

The smell of formalin wafted through her smell senses, forcing Alexis to survey her supervisor's office. Little bits, of what Alexis suspected what used to be brains, swam in a bottle of rather murky liquid. What creature it used to be owned by wasn't something she wanted to know. There were more bottles, but she didn't even bother thinking about it. "Sheriff Mobley-."

"Sent you," Grissom interrupted, "I know." 

The rather burdened silence floated amongst them until Catherine shattered it. "Nick, why don't you take our new colleague to the break room?"

Something that looked like a very uncomfortable expression flashed across Stokes' face. "Uh…sure." He walked past her to the door. "This way."

Alexis smiled at Willows and Grissom, who still had a face of steely emotions, before turning behind with Stokes. The corridors were walked by with other CSI's. Some with lab coats while others in plain clothes, most of them nodded towards her and greeted Stokes while a few were too busy getting their eyes too stuck to their clipboards to even notice if the sky was falling much less other homosapiens.

"Coffee?" Stokes offered the dark liquid to her, paper cup already in his hand as she sat in the break room.

"No thanks." She declined after looking at how the drink sludge in its pot.

Filling the cup for himself, Stokes sat in a chair far away enough for her not to bite him. He fidgeted in his seat as he sipped his hot beverage, not saying a word.

"Am I really that un-welcomed?" She spoke up, at the same time confessing that she had eavesdropped on the earlier conversation with him and Grissom.

He nearly choked on his coffee. "What-? I mean…no…you…heard us?" he wiped his face with a free hand. "I didn't mean it."

"I'm no newbie."

"That's not what I meant, I mean-. When I said it, it was-."

"I was moved from the SFCL." She explained, hoping to erase whatever clumsy CSI image Stokes had built of her in advance. She was good at what she did.

He sighed and placed the cup on the wooden table. "The last time we had a new CSI on here, she died on her first case."

Alexis swallowed hard, _'So that's it'_ she thought. Opening her mouth to speak an apology, she was interrupted. 

"Nick?" 

He turned, "Yeah?" 

Willows smiled and looked at Alexis. "The other new CSI is here." She announced.

Feeling a little relieved at the interruption, Alexis walked out the break room and trailed behind Willows as well as Stokes by her side. The labs on her left were pretty much silent with the work of the technicians, as each concentrated hard on their work. Looking into whatever world of microscopic fibers, hairs and any unidentifiable substances. Grissom stood in the scene as the threesome stepped into a conference room. He stood there, his eyes on the yellow like folder.

"Gris." Willows interjected his concentration.

The folder was laid to his side with the usual stoic face for company. Seated in one of the chairs, Alexis noted a woman with her back towards her. The stranger had originally dark hair but highlighted with streaks of red. Her legs crossed, top leg tapping the bottom one as her fingers on the table followed the sort of annoying rhythm. _'No it can't be!'_  Her mind screamed out, as she placed the image with a mental memory.

"Our second new CSI: Nadine Lang." Grissom introduced, "Ms. Lang has been moved from LACL."

Lang stood up as her familiar Asian features showed itself to Alexis. 

"Two women?" Stokes let out.

"Was that a chauvinistic remark?" Lang shot back, her strong voice cutting through. An all too regular voice Alexis had often heard.

Alexis caught the smirk she saw Willows give Stokes as he stumbled through an explanation. Even Grissom had looked from above his glasses to give Willows two arched eyebrows.

"Maybe we should save the debates for later?" Grissom said, saving Stokes more humiliation. "There are two more CSI's, which would be Sara Sidle and Warrick Brown. Both who are out on a case."

"You both can just hang around 'til there's a case. Which I'm sure there will be." Willows added. 

Alexis glanced at a silent Stokes before back at Lang. _'Oh boy'_ she thought as the other CSI gave her a knowing smile.

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Willows was wrong. There wasn't a case plus Brown and Sidle hadn't been back. Stokes had taken her on a tour while Lang was escorted by Willows herself. Seemingly, Stokes was too embarrassed to be with Lang. Alexis could understand. Lang was the type of person you wouldn't want to mess with. She had the stubbornness of a mule and the mouth that she could cut anyone down to size with. Walking out into the very early morning, Grissom had allowed the two new CSI's to get home an hour before the graveyard shift ended. There down the street of the CSI building, was a green jeep. The passenger door was swung open as Alexis stood next to it with the owner seated in the driver's seat, her hand on the steering wheel while her face looking directly at Alexis. 

Sighing, Alexis glared at Nadine Lang. "What do you want?"

"What?" she answered. "Didn't think I would leave you behind now would I?"

"If you followed me all the way here why not?"

"This time I had nothing to do with this." She replied seriously. They remained like that for at least a minute before Alexis finally hopped into the vehicle. "Finally."

Slamming the door, the passenger turned to look at Lang and flashed the natural sepia eyes of hers.

"Oh don't you dare flash at me my dear sister."

In unison the two sisters burst out laughing. "You know Dean; you had me scared for a moment." Alexis called on her twin sister. They were fraternal twins and Nadine, or Dean called by Alexis for short, was just 2 minutes older. 

Starting the jeep and putting it into gear, Nadine drove on. "Really, I didn't ask for the transfer. It was out of my control." She pointed out. "Apparently, the LVCL needed someone with my expertise."

Alexis knew exactly what Nadine had meant. Ever since they were young, Nadine had this ability to sense emotions. Even if the person had left the room. The movie would play to her in a sort of flashy way, at least that's the way her sister had put it. An echo was the way she had labeled it as. But Nadine wasn't the only '_special'_ one. Alexis started noticing her own ability to just jump higher, flexibility and to run faster. This wasn't much until she started having the night vision, heightened senses and of course the ever present eye flashing. Her side of powers was good when she had to track down evidence at a crime scene. Nadine on the other hand, could tell how the killer was feeling and where he had touched, moved and even his actions. Interrogations were a breeze for her twin.

 It was a secret between the two of them. Not even their parents knew.

"Do you think we should tell them?" Alexis thought aloud.

Turning at the next bend, Nadine shrugged, "What? That we're related?" She shook her head. "Maybe not. After all, they had never asked and it's not like we look in anyway related either."

Nadine was right, they both have extremely different personalities and in the physical sense as well. Her sister was taller and a little more blessed with the serious look, while Alexis although shorter, was better built and had that maniacal smile that would scare any, well uh, maniac. 

"Besides," she continued, "I like the mystery."

"So how's mom?" Alexis asked, changing the subject.

"Probably the same as dad, and who is…?" the red head stopped at a traffic light.

"Fine." She answered the question before it was asked. 

"You think that after 20 years they would at least talk to each other." Nadine complained. "I mean it was divorce, not a vow of silence."

Alexis shrugged. It was never a good idea to get Nadine excited about this, especially when she was the driver. The thought of two divorced parents and being separated from each other where each of parent had one of the twins sounded like something from a drama movie. Hence the twins' different last names. Which weren't actually last names, because for any Chinese, their last names weren't their surnames and-.

The car jerked, causing Alexis to be awakened from her thoughts. 

"Sorry," Nadine apologized, "Wrong gear." The car moved past the green light. 

Maybe it was coincidence, or maybe it was twin telepathy (which could be, considering that Dean _is_ a telempath) but it was never planned that the both of them would be doing the same thing. 

Crime Scene Investigating.

Now here they were in the Las Vegas Crime Lab. This could be a good thing, or even a bad thing. 

Alexis was hoping for the later.

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Nadine slipped the keys into the ashtray-turned-key holder with a metallic 'clang' before pulling off her thin purple vest and throwing it on the couch. She took in the smells of a freshly cleaned apartment that she was living in, alone. Staring at the sunrise from behind the glass sliding door, Nadine's smiled a little as the maid's image flickered on. 

_The rather elderly woman slid the vacuum over the carpet. She knocks it over. She dumps it into a trashcan. Hopes that Nadine won't notice._  

And she was right, Nadine wouldn't have noticed.__

The small, choppy movie ended as Nadine made a move for the trash can she had seen earlier. Dropping to one knee, she pulled out pieces of the porcelain figure her mother had given to her. Small sputters of chuckles escaped her tiny smirk as she let loose the pieces back into the can. It doesn't matter; she had never liked it anyway.

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Authors' note: So how's it people? It's for fun and we know that there are a lot of plot holes but we don't really care. It's a fic that we wanted out of our systems. If you're wondering about where MX is, well I promise you they will be in this fic. No doubt about that. Just be a little patient. 

My sis and I are huge fans of CSI and Mutant-X so we decided to start a fic on it and we're even starting up an RPG for it to! Crazy huh? Well if you're interested just email me. There's actually a lot the both of us would want to say but we thought getting up the first chapter was more important than our useless banter. That would be reserved for later.

Regards, RK9 and Freak@ngel/frickangel


	2. chapter 2

Disclaimer: We do not own the world of Mutant-X or even CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and its characters. Both are own by Tribune Entertainment and CBS respectively. Although some of the characters and the story are owned by frickangel/Freak@ngel and RK9.

Note: This is the same chapter 2 that was uploaded previously, only thing is that I had to change a few errors that I had forgotten to correct earlier on.

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Rivers Of Differences.

Chapter 2.

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Coffee was always a welcomed sight to any graveyard shift CSI. This including Nadine herself. First the hot spill of the black brew into her Styrofoam cup, followed by two sachets of sugar. Stir well.

"Ah, lipstick on my coffee cup." The young dark blonde said from the entrance.

"I thought all cups were disposed off after use?" Nadine asked him, her coffee still a distance from her glossed lips. 

He shrugged. "Just a figure of speech I guess."

Nadine flashed him a rather unimpressed smile and continued the coffee to her mouth move, until-.

"You must be one of the new ones here."

The coffee trip was interrupted again. "Yes."

"I'm Greg Sanders." He offered his hand. Shifting the white cup into her only other free grip, Nadine shook Sanders' hand. "I…uh work the DNA lab here."

Opening up her mind to read the feelings between the lines, without permission that is, is something Nadine had promised herself never to do. But in this case…

"Whoa, down boy." Another woman appeared that Nadine had recognized as Sara Sidle. "So where is it?" Sidle asked, her palm outstretched to receive something from Sanders. 

"What?" Sanders will always seem like he was two cups above the allowed caffeine limit.

"Well you obviously were here to give me that report on my DB right?"

He started to do little hoping movements on his toes. "There's this backlog, and-."

"Not much of a backlog now is it if you can still be chatting up our new CSI?" Sidle gave a little sarcastic smile as she moved her crossed arms a little tighter around her body.

A swish of the bobbing head and Sanders hopped out. "Should I thank you? Or would that be an insult to him?" Nadine asked, the steam from her coffee still whisping away.

"Nah, I think Greg is too overcooked by his hyperactivity to notice an insult." Sidle bent down to pick out a canned Coke from the fridge. 

Finally being able to drink her coffee, Nadine sipped the hot liquid slowly but as soon as the unknown flavor assaulted her taste buds, she made a bee line to the sink and spitted it out. She looked up after washing down the taste with water from the sink and saw Sidle chuckling with her very safe Coke. "Oh, by the way, the coffee's not bad when you're desperate." The senior CSI explained. "Before that it used to taste like tar."

Nadine wiped the sides of her mouth with her back hand. "I think it's improving, that tasted more like _break fluid_."

She let out a small laugh and drank from the can. "Good. Humor. You'll need it in here." Sidle added. "It's the only thing that still is fresh. Anyway I have to go and collect my DB's 'status'." She had pointed to the back with her thumb before taking 2 backward steps with finally a turn and straight out. 

Nadine didn't mind Sidle. Maybe it was the feeling of women being strong in a mostly male dominated career. Or maybe because Nadine just liked her. Still holding onto the barely drank cup of "_break fluid"_, the Asian started to toss the contents down the sink's drain hole.

"Here."

Nadine eyed the StarBucks logo printed paper cup and smiled. "I thought I was the empathic one?" she amusedly asked her sister. 

"Yeah, but I spotted the new organism they call coffee here first. Knew you would throw this new species to waste." 

Accepting the beverage from Alexis, Nadine pulled off the protective tab and savored the aroma and real taste of coffee. "Thanks."

"No problem." Alexis replied, as she pulled out her own cup from the paper bag. "Still no cases?"

Shrugging, Nadine removed the cup from her lips. "Not that I've heard off."

"This is Las Vegas, where are the dead people?"

"Probably still alive and gambling whatever they have left on their backs."

"Oh, how fun…" Alexis said in a flat toned voice.

"Really? I hadn't noticed."

Her rear-end shook from the vibrations milliseconds before the electronically tune of two pagers went off. Both their hands whipped to their jean pockets and retrieved their pagers. "Be careful for what I wish for…" Alexis muttered just as they bolted for the door.

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Shoving herself into the back of the Tahoe, Nadine let her tool kit rest on the empty seat next to her. Over in front was Alexis and Stokes in charge of the wheel. A real case for them to finally investigate with the overview being brief and quick: DB at a deserted area, all available units requested. 

Those 9 words were wonderfully specific.

"So is there anything else we're allowed to know about this?" Alexis asked casually. 

The scenic route that they were taking would have looked good if only it wasn't so dark. Than again- there wasn't much light at 3 in the morning. 

"Gris and Catherine were at the crime scene a whole half an hour before they called in." Stokes answered, his eyes still safely on the road ahead. "Didn't say much, just that we should haul our butts there."

Arching an eyebrow which would never be seen by Stokes, Nadine interjected. "Grissom actually said '_haul our butts'_?"

"In Grissom talk: yes."

Leaving the conversation as it is, the entire trip was dipped in silence.

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Las Vegas always had struck Grissom as the sort of temperamental female. Never knew what they would give to you and in what way the presents were going to be wrapped. The weather was another thing as well.

Tonight the air was hot and dry. Just last night it was chilly. 

"Fire and water never really mixed right?" Catherine asked from his left side, her soft blue shirt illuminated by the siren lights of the police units.

Points and notes gathered in his mind, like a gun ready to fire already aimed at his victim's heart. "It's more like-."

"Forget I ever asked." Catherine immediately interrupted her hand up in the air, like giving up something. She smiled a little and moved on to start the initial grid search. They had called in more of the CSI's that were on-duty about 25 minutes ago, and Grissom hoped that at least 2 would answer the summons. This was a case that even had left the CSI head supervisor a little baffled. And leaving Grissom baffled was news. But it's not like he was about to let everyone know about it.

Detective Brass replaced Catherine's original position next to Grissom. "Do things ever get to us easily?"

"Does it rain in Alaska?"

Frowning, Brass thought for a while and remained silent, instead he said, "Your CSI's are here, including the two 'imports'. 3 in total though."

Grissom, let the rather debatable 'import' remark slip by, he was more preoccupied with getting the case explained. Threading his way over the burnt leftovers and slipping under the yellow and all important 'Crime Scene' tape, he was greeted by the sight of 3 CSI's. Nick jumping out of the driver side whiles the other two new Asians out from their own passenger seats. 

"You rang master?" Nick good humouredly shouted out.

Grissom gave Nick his usual unimpressed glare. "Over here." He led the way again through the same dull yellow ribbon. Stepping onto the crime scene, he looked at Nadine and Alexis. "Meet John Doe."

'John' had laid in the same way since 8p.m., about 8 hours since his estimated time of death. That is; from their initial report from David, their on the scene coroner. The vic was lying in the burnt remnants of a wooden shack. 

"What's his story?" Alexis' voice rang out.

"Passer by's reported a fire and by the time the fire department arrived, they wasn't anything to save at all." Catherine appeared from in front, her forehead beaded with sweat as her gloved hands hung loosely to her sides. "Than, we got the call about a dead body."

"Is the night playing tricks on my eyesight, or is our vic wet?"

"If it is than it's playing tricks on me to." Nick backed up.

"Three." Nadine piped in.

Grissom knew it was no trick, they saw what they had seen. The shack was burnt to black cinders, but the DB was still untouched in the middle of the mess. 

And wet.

The surrounding area within the fire was damp from moisture as well. Some pieces of wood were only stained with blackish smudges and not complete carbon. "It's wet." He confirmed.

"But the fire department didn't even waste a drop on this place." Catherine said, adding mystery to the case.

"Rain?" Nick tried a suggestion.

"I don't see any umbrellas here Nick." Grissom flatly pointed out.

"How about morning moisture?" Nadine put her 2 cents in.

"This much?" Catherine objected.

"I've heard of spontaneous combustion, so what's this: spontaneous hydration?" Alexis said, confused.

Grissom caught Nadine's annoyed look at Alexis. From the start, he had noticed her air of superiority. As if she was in charge and better than anyone else. Than again, Grissom stopped to listen to his own advice: assume nothing. "Start the grid search." He ordered Nick and Catherine, whom nodded and set to work. "Nadine-Alexis, I heard of what you're capable of. Why don't the both of you work your magic?"

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This place was nothing but smothered junk. Catherine wondered at just what evidence they could recover. "So how are they?" Catharine asked as she picked up a piece of blackened wood.

"Peachy." Nick answered, his face a little void of happiness.

"That bad?"

Looking up, he gave Catherine a thinking look. "Actually, Alexis is fine, maybe not so much on the Lang girl."

The blond shrugged, "Still…" Catherine changed the subject. "So where are Warrick and Sara?" 

"Momentarily stuck on the murder case. But it's pretty solid, so they should be giving a helping soon," the Texan answered. "This case is high on the weird scale."

"Yeah, but weird isn't actually a foreign language here."

Nick gave her a small grin. He threw aside another small burnt piece of wood. "Speaking of weird, what's with them?"

Catherine followed Nick's gaze and studied the still form of Nadine Lang, sitting on her tool kit and staring at the DB. Just down the other side, Alexis scanned the area, Grissom looked on. "I have no idea, but I heard they give pretty accurate "_readings_". Whatever that means." She shrugged, her long strawberry hair flopping a little. "Grissom was kinda vague."

"Grissom's _always_ vague."

She too another picture of a burnt something, the flash strong in the early morning night. "True."

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With gloves snapped on to her hands, Alexis snaked through the wreck. It was dark and her MagLight didn't give much help in this time of night. Sneaking a glance at her superior and making sure he was looking somewhere else, she tuned into her night vision. The familiar sepia tint that flashed through her eyesight lit up the dark world, noticing more than just the brighter version of the crime scene. 

One step after another revealed nothing. 

She hadn't realized just how far she had wandered until Alexis had spotted a small plastic piece. That wouldn't have struck her as to how distant she was, except for the fact that the grass was green and there wasn't any flamed up wood. Taking picturea and saving it, Alexis smiled. From her standard issue CSI vest, she pulled out a plastic zip-lock and picked up the piece with her forceps. The plastic stuck to the side of the bag from the early morning dew and stayed that way when Alexis had laid the evidence to her side. Within the other pocket, she retrieved a black OHP pen and wrote the specific details. Black ink stains left where her hand had lead it and informing any reader. 

Trailing through the site another time as far as the predicted crime scene, Alexis couldn't find anything more and headed back to ground zero.

With a thumb flick, she turned her MagLight on once more, this time really needing it to see her way through the darkness.

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_He ran. _

_They followed._

_Footsteps.__ More than 2 sets. Many pairs. _

Nadine walked alone the whole area, wrestling with the shadows of John Doe's life. Grissom stood behind as she sat on her tool kit. The man lay before her, face down, back upwards like he was pushed to the ground. The guy looked pathetic. That was Nadine's personal opinion. His wet dark hair clumped to his equally wet face and dirt stuck to his clothes. Everything was dripping wet.

_A fountain._

_'No.'_ Nadine thought, _'Not a fountain,'_

_Gushes of water.__ Fast flowing water. _

Shaking her head slightly, the CSI pushed out the self made mental image of water. It was best to concentrate on her work and not let her own views mix with her images.

_John screams- The fire. His death._

Staring intently into nowhere in particular, the telempath tried to focus onto the blurred faces of the suspects.

Funnily it's harder this time. She could only make out their actions and attitudes. So full of duty and professionalism. Was it a hired hit? Thinking hard on a particular action- fire.

Than the images continued.

_The suspects walked away from the blaze. _

Nadine stood up and faced a direction. Stepping up next to her, Grissom had the questioning look. "This way," she muttered pulling up her tool kit. "They went this way." Not one word slipped from him as Nadine walked on, down the known dirt road she had "_seen_".

_One cursed._

_Mud._

_One stepped into mud and cursed._

"Here." She broke off her fast paced walk and gazed into the side road. Bending down, Nadine pushed aside the weed growth and revealed a perfect footprint embedded into the half dried sludge. 

Grissom examined the same evidence while flashing the MagLight into upon the area. "Looks fresh." 

"Don't worry, it is." Nadine answered confidently. She brought herself up again and headed down the path once more. Grissom took his time and followed her after making sure the place was marked and secured.

_The car was far off. They skidded off in their vehicle._

Finally her little stroll ended on a perfectly normal deserted tarred road. "Skid marks from the tires of our suspects." She pointed to the ground.

Her companion inspected the marks. "This could belong to any cars' tires."

"It is the real thing." She repeated, her annoyance biting through her words. "Besides even if it isn't solid proof at this moment, it _will_ link the suspects' car to this crime scene."

Grissom didn't object. He stood up and started away. "Make sure you just process this place. I'll get Catherine on the footprint." He shot back coolly. 

With a triumphed smile, Nadine knew deep inside that she had found something that no CSI would be able to find, whether accidentally or not. Extracting the digital camera from her tool kit, Nadine sat to work.

_'No one.'_

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"Did ya hear?"

Warrick turned from the inside view of his locker. "No, what?"

"The new girls practically showed us up."

Laughing at his fellow teammate, he slammed the metal locker close giving him a clearer view of the speaker. "That's 'cause I wasn't there Nick." He strode out of the room and stepped along the corridor of labs and Nick followed along.

"Oh believe me they would've done the same to you."

The laugh turned into a chuckle as Warrick noted Nick's dead serious pose. "Ok, I'm listening. What happened?"

"Well, they found evidence that would've taken 3 state teams of CSI's to search for." 

"That's it?" Warrick joked until he saw Nick's un-amused face "Okay, so they're good. Big deal." 

"That Lang girl gives me this bad vibe."

'_Now which one was that?_' Warrick thought, trying to remember who was who. "Don't tell me you're afraid of her?"

"I am not!" Nick exclaimed stopping in his tracks. "She has this thing and I'm not so sure…well…it's…"

Sighing, Warrick faced his friend. "Spit it out." 

"It's like she can tell what you're thinking. I mean she just practically pointed at the evidence and where it was exactly."

Warrick set himself in deep thought for a while before answering. "Chicken." 

"I AM NOT!" he shouted again, tossing his hands up at the same time.

Continuing his journey to the trace lab, Warrick shot him a smile and left Nick behind.

************************************************************************

Alexis lay within the shadows and listened to the exchange between the 2 senior CSI's. There was going to be trouble within this place and her every self knew it. "Oh boy…" she whispered.

***********************************************************************"

"Anything new?" Adam asked from over the young blonde's shoulder. Shaking his head and shrugging, face illuminated by the 17' inch computer screen. "Nothing much, usual lab results but nothing solid at the moment." Jesse Kilmartin answered. 

"Right, keep monitoring the case." He ordered back. Moving away back to the lab, Adam left Jesse to his work. He rubbed his fingers while the data stream continued to flow across the monitor. _'One of the top four crime labs apparently.__ Let's see them solve this case.' _Jesse let the thought through his mind.

"You still at it huh?" Shalimar appeared from nowhere and leaned on his shoulder.He sighed, "Adam says stay on it, so I'm staying on it." 

 "When do we butt into this?"

Another shrug. "It's hard to 'butt' into this when the cops are so involved."

"Well, that hasn't stopped us yet."

"Not yet,"

"And besides," she continued, "I've always wanted to go to Las Vegas."

He scoffed, thinking of all the bright lights and headaches. Not for him but for those suffering from severe lack of monetary moments there. "Viva Las Vegas huh?"

"Oh yeah."

"Guess we'll just have to wait and see."

"No problem, I'm a very patient person especially when it comes to finding killers as stupid as this one."

Jesse hit a few keys, "Never doubted that, ever."

"Good." She playfully punched his shoulder with a balled fist.

"Whoa," he frowned, still setting his eyes on the information.

"What?"

"The computer just made a match to the database."

"I thought we already did?"

"Not Bryan Jemlin," Jesse said, referring to the recently deceased man. "We have two CSI's from the Las Vegas crime lab who just submitted in reports. Their names were a match to the new mutant database."

"Them new mutants?"

"Apparently so." He read off the words. "Alexis Lim: Canine Feral."

"And the other?" Shalimar prompted.

"Nadine Lang: Psionic. Interesting bit, they're both related."

"Cousins? Distant something?"

"No, twins."

She frowned, "But why the different last names?"

Jesse scrolled down through the bio. "Parents divorced. Each going with separate parent."

"In that case," Shalimar gave Jesse her best cat-like smile. "I think we just got our reasons to _butt_ in." 

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Authors' notes: Well chapter 2 is here. And we I forgot to add something to the explanation, this is set in season 2 for MX and season 4 for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Just to clarify.

And to fulfill our promise, MX is finally in the picture. Tell us whatca think!

Regards:

Frickangel/Freak@ngel & RK9


	3. chapter 3

Disclaimer: We do not own Mutant-X or CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Both are owned by Tribune Entertainment and CBS respectively. Only a few characters and the story are owned by us, Freak@ngel/Frickangel and RK9.

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Rivers of Differences.

Chapter 3

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EMMA hated her picture on the pass. The still capture of herself hadn't satisfied her and she looked discoloured in it. Maybe it was the camera, she didn't remember looking this awful when she took the same sort of picture for the last fake pass. The digital camera must be growing fungi; do digital cameras grow that by the way? "I hate this photo."

Jesse turned from looking at the labs. "Huh?"

"I hate this photo." She repeated.

Returning his attention back to the high tech rooms of the Las Vegas Crime Lab, Jesse shrugged, "It looks like you right?"

Automatically, the red head's eyes rolled. "Boys…" she muttered.

"Hmm?" Jesse sounded oblivious.

"Where are we going?" she aptly switched topics, her eyes looking around more.

People walked by and people ran by, but the two new mutants stopped. "I thought you knew?"

A repeated sigh, "Boys…"

"I didn't say I don't know," He defended himself; "I was just asking."

"And what would that be?"

"Try looking for the two new mutants." He smiled happily to himself.

Grabbing the elbow of his arm, Emma dragged Jesse towards the front. "Let's go."

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"Anything?" Sara asked, her head coming over the top of Nadine's manila folder.

Laying it down and picking up the cup of coffee on the glass table, Nadine shook her head, "Nothing. I'm still running the tire marks through the '_Tread Assistant_'. I'll be going in a while to check on it."

Sara chuckled, "All in a life of a CSI. Don't suppose you'll be up for a little walk to the morgue? I bet Doc. Robbins wouldn't mind meeting the new face."

"Preliminary autopsy out already?" Nadine frowned and caught the clock hanging above the door of the break room. "That was fast."

"We do something better," She grinned, "We _attend_ the preliminary autopsy."

Getting up to throw the remaining stale coffee into the metal sink, Nadine tied up her hair with the rubber band that was snapped to her wrist. "I guess maybe the blood and gore would break some sense into the case."

"Glad you feel that way." Pulling away from the table she leaned on, Sara stepped up to the door and spun back to wait for Nadine. Both the women walked side by side to the autopsy room, passing along more glass see through labs and hurried folk.

Each of them carried a specific thought, like a signature that Nadine could sense. And one word could summarize what it was like:

Boring.

Shifting through the crowd, trying to tag behind Sara, the Psionic halted mid-way. Right in the centre of the corridor, where traffic was high, stares and "excuse-me's" slowed down by her ears but completely unregistered in her head, until she heard nothing and only could remember blurs of colours to blob of grey that slid by. There was something, or this time, a someone in the crowd. Someone worth taking note off. Whoever it was had a higher level of thought. Nothing like the puny trails of any normal human. Not like what Nadine could tell.

"Hey!"

Fast forward button thumbed on, the world resumed its normal speed, forcing Nadine to take note of her surroundings again. "Uh…yeah?"

Sara frowned and took two steps closer to her colleague. "You okay?"

Still dazed, Nadine absent mindedly shook her head, "Yeah, sure. I'm… fine."

"I called you at least 4 times, didn't you hear me?"

Whatever consciousness it was, slipped away. "What?" Nadine answered, finally paying attention to Sara.

The brunette eyed Nadine carefully, "Never mind, just lay off the coffee for a while okay?"

Vaguely remembering that she had mumbled something, Nadine continued on with their excursion to Dr. Robbins, the LV Crime Lab's coroner, right on the opposite end of the building where they had been.

Sara dutifully handed Nadine a blue lab coat, and slipped it on herself before pushing the double metal doors. Nadine took a minute to get used to the strong chemical smell before stepping completely in. Sara seemed unfazed. Giving herself a mental note, Nadine made sure to warn Alex about this.

"Hey Doc." Sara announced. "Anything?"

"Ah, Ms. Sidle. What a predicted surprise." The elderly doctor dressed in his medical garment and accessorized with his crutch, pushed his glasses back on his nose with his clean back hand. "And who might this be?" He asked getting a better look at Sara's companion.

"This," Sara explained, "Is Nadine Lang."

The good doctor smiled politely and lifted his bloody gloved hands. A reason clear to Nadine why he won't be shaking hands with his new acquaintance. All Nadine could get promptly from Dr. Robbins was professionalism. No nonsense.

"She's one of two new CSI's here." Sara continued. "Nadine this is Dr. Robbins."

The Asian nodded and smiled back in response.

"Good," Sara clapped her hands, "Now with the ice breakers done, where's our body?"

"Right here." He lifted the pure white sheets stained with blood from the doctor's Y-incision across the chest, revealing the decease's face. Bryan Jemlin. 

"Aw, you did without us?"

"Maybe next time."

"Fine then." Sara agreed, "So what's the cause of death? Drowning? Smoke inhalation? O.D'ed.?"

"Whatever you do Sara, don't join _Final Jeopardy _tonight."

"Am I that far off?"

"Cold. Your Vic died from _cardiac arrest_."

"And…?" 

"And, that's it."

"What just a heart attack? Nothing else?"

"Don't believe me? You can always take a look at the heart for yourself." Robbins challenged Sara and motioned to the bloody red mass on the weighing machine, sitting comfortably in the metal bowl.

"Not much of a mysterious death now is it?" Nadine finally said something.

"Sometimes Ms. Lang, the best mysteries are the least of a mystery." He said bluntly. "Though there was something else I noticed on your Vic. He had hairline fractures on his right _Radius _and _Humerus_." He limped over to the light board where the X-rays lay clipped up.

"Hard Force Trauma?" 

"I doubt it," he answered almost confidently, walking back. "There wasn't any internal bleeding but it does look more like it was caused from muscle spasm. Probably from a high voltage source."

"How'd you figure?" Nadine chipped in another question.

To answer her, Robbins lifted the sheets higher up exposing the long red cut down his chest just beginning at the meet up of the 'V' below the neck, caused by the doctor's scalpel. He pointed to a medium sized reddish swollen burn on the right forearm. "This," he explained looking up, "Is an electrical burn. With high voltage it causes muscle spasms and force the muscles to contract and thus fracturing the bones."

"Did that cause the heart attack?" Sara had her arms crossed across her chest now.

"This I'm sure of: No. The fracture was pre-mortem, had at least 3 hours to begin the healing process." The coroner ended. "I will be sending in the detailed report later. Maybe then you'll get the mystery you want."

With a nod and muttered a thanks, Sara backed out of the room and Nadine followed suit, Robbins himself went back to work.

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The printer gave a small bleep before spitting out the results slowly to the lab techie Greg Sanders. Alexis swayed back and forth a little, trying to keep awake. On her left, Catherine seemed just as tired. 

Greg pulled out the white sheet of paper with the LVPD crime lab intro template stuck at the top. "Well my dears," He said, reading through the numbers and symbols, "Your liquid substance you found on the Vic, is…" He snapped the paper down and smiled, "Just two molecules of Hydrogen and one molecule of oxygen."

"That's it?" Catherine over emphasized on the 'it' word. 

"Yup, H20. Were you expecting some sort of Alien Fluid?"

"Maybe just a little more than water, yes." She grabbed the paper from his gloved hands. "Thanks,"

Alexis turned and left with the blonde out of the lab. "Are we disappointed?" she asked.

Still looking fresh in her blue silk top and pin striped slacks even with the fatigue, Catherine answered, "Was hoping to get some sort of lead on anything right now. Hopefully Gris has something," she walked into one of the labs and stared surprised into it. "Where's Grissom?" she asked Nick.

Alexis smiled unconsciously at him.

"Cath!" Nick held the burnt debris high in his hands as he looked stunned at the both women. "Alex…" he said a little more softer and smiled.

"Where's Grissom?" Catherine repeated to the other CSI.

"Two words: Sheriff Mobley."

"Ah." A small spike of gleam went up in Catherine's eyes. "Don't suppose it was just Grissom looking for publicity advice."

"Why would he? He has you."

Laughing, Catherine walked right into the lab. "Keep on buttering that toast."

"Well if you're trying to get something new from me and my lovely dates," he stated, waving his hand over the dark pieces aligned on the fluorescent lit table. "You are going for nothing here."

Sighing Catherine looked down and pushed her blonde strands behind her ear. "Great. And Warrick would be…?"

"Helping Nadine out with the '_tread assistant_'." Nick helped.

"I'll be back," Catherine called out as she stepped out into the corridors again, her voice already echoing. Alexis just had enough time to smile a goodbye at Nick and followed her superior. "Do me a favour," Catherine said to Alexis. "Head over to Warrick first and I'll go and meet wi-."

Alexis did a fast whirl to the right before something came crashing into them both. Unfortunately her friend wasn't blessed to possess the feral senses. Catherine went down with the oncoming threat.

"I am so sorry!!!" The red head stood up and dusted herself before pulling Catherine up along to her feet. Still feeling jumpy, Alexis remained in her slightly crouched position. "Are you alright?!"

Finally realizing the lack of danger in the situation, Alexis stood straight and by Catherine. "You trying to catch a train?" The younger CSI asked suspiciously.

"I'm a klutz and I can't refute that! I am really really sorry," Red grabbed Alexis' hand and patted it profusely, "I have to rush this data off somewhere and I'm really sorry!" She ran off without saying anything else while waving her brown envelope in the air and left Catherine and Alexis standing there. 

Scratching the spot where Red had laid her hand upon Alexis, whether it was really itchy or not. "That was fast."

"And painful," Catherine moaned rubbing her sore rear end. "Come on, the case isn't getting itself solved."

"It doesn't? Always thought they do." putting it good humouredly, Alexis smirked at the other woman.

"Ha-ha. Very funny." But the smile was evident on Catherine's face. "We need to move."

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"Did it work?" Jesse asked from around the corner.

"I think it did." Emma threw the empty envelope into the trash can. "Hopefully the bug will disintegrate safely as you said."  She sounded genuinely worried.

Jesse grinned and reassured "It will. As soon as we're done listening and tracking them two, the bug will receive the self-destruct signal and will harmlessly be absorbed into the body as nothing."

"Come on." Emma said pulling her top straight, "Your turn's next."

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"Sorry." The blonde guy apologized as his hand collided with Nadine's hand just as she reached over the reception counter to collect messages. Sara never noticed if Nadine had said anything in response, but walked off with her just as she distanced herself from the counter. 

Sara left Nadine to read her messages as they weaved through the crowd before reaching Warrick at the computer. Tucking away her slips of paper into her lab coat, Nadine looked up as did Sara. "Hey." 

Nodding back, Warrick rubbed his red watery eyes and went back to the monitor. Popping into the same room, Alexis traded smiles with everyone before speaking, "Anything?"

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Sara added and looked towards Warrick.

"Your tire tracks," Warrick said, looking at Nadine, "Belongs to an Isuzu SUV Rodeo."

"Great," Nadine piped in rather flatly, "That narrows down the list to ninety thousand drivers. What about the shoe print?"

"Still searching, for the 3rd time."

"Why the repeated searches?" Alexis moved closer to the screen.

Scanning through the list as it flashed before her, Sara crossed her arms. "Not even a close match?"

"Other than it being a size 12 and owned by a male, no nothing."

"Oh whee." Sighing, Alexis stood straight. 

"We still need the full autopsy report from Dr. Robbins and Nick is going through the debris if I'm not mistaken." Rubbing her neck, Nadine shifted from one foot to the other.

"Yeah he is, I just saw him. Catherine's meeting up with Grissom now." 

"Thanks." Nadine smiled, and it hit Sara that it looked genuine. She had never realized just how much emotionally detached Nadine could be. The Asian CSI patted Warrick on his shoulder and walked out just as Warrick mumbled back something before returning to the '_tread assistant_'. Alexis on the other side began scratching her already rather red hand.

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Shoving in another bite of his BLT sandwich, Warrick wiped the crumbs off his mouth with the napkin. Catherine who was seated on the other end of the table, a forkful of salad caught mid way to her mouth, the French dressing dripping slightly from the plastic cutlery. She placed it down softly to flip a page on the case report.

Throwing the folder unto the table with an audible slap, Nick spoke out, "You do know we have nothing on this case right?"

The entire grave yard shift CSI crew were seated at the table of the conference room. The place was a little more crowded with the two new additions of Nadine and Alexis. Even Greg was added into the mix. The guy was becoming quite an asset to the team. _'Who would've thought?' _ Catherine figured that they had all underestimated their Lab Tech, though he still had a lot to prove himself as a CSI.

"Well in that case," Grissom picked up on Nick's annoyance, "Why _DO_ we have?"

"The debris had nothing." Nick said, disappointed again.

"Suspect is a male with size 12 feet whose shoe imprints aren't in the database." Nadine offered her bit up.

Warrick chipped in his own info, "The tire tracks are though, and it's an Isuzu Rodeo."

"Great," Sara added, screwing shut her Snapple bottle, "We have a type of car, a shoe size and gender. So being in America, that would leave-."

"About 10,000 possible suspects who own a Rodeo and wear a size 12." Alexis played with a potato chip from the silver packet and then scratched her hand.

"If we split that up between us, it'll only be 1,250 to each of us." Catherine smiled sweetly in a sarcastic mode, "We could do it."

"In that case Cath, you can have my share." Nick snorted.

"Aw, where's your sense of adventure Nick?"

"Autopsy report?" Grissom interrupted the playful debate, and it sounded rather impatiently to. Still it wasn't enough to lock out Nick's glare and Catherine's sweet smile.

"Doc…" Sara swallowed a mouthful of her sandwich, "…Robbins was suppose to hand us the full details soon."

 "Ask and ye shall receive." The senior coroner walked, or more like limped through the door. 

"Amen." Nadine, who was seated next to Catherine herself, whispered before she sat up straighter and pushed her Coke aside. Grissom placed the manila down and sat himself. Realizing this for the first time, Catherine noticed that Grissom is seldom without a folder in his hands.  

"What's the verdict Doc?" Greg smiled, "I can take it."

Unable to stop herself from just smirking at the spiky haired tech, but instead Catherine kept silent as both the doctor and Grissom peered over their glasses.

"Jemlin, your victim, had very high levels of Cortisol, Adrenaline, T3 and T4."

Frowning, Nadine pondered, "Jemlin did die of a heart attack,"

"Meaning the heart attack was natural?"  Alexis didn't sound very happy, maybe it was the thought of a wild goose chase, maybe it was the rash she kept scratching. But Catherine noticed that it did look like the rash was becoming more of a problem.

"At first glance most would think so, but the high level of all 4 hormones at once didn't raise much suspicion." Robbins pulled out a few 10R photographs. "Still it wasn't until David pointed out something I almost missed." Sliding them across the table, Catherine grabbed one as the others scrambled for the other few. Grissom had a personal set ready for him.

"This one," The doctor continued as he held up his own batch. The glossy picture of the victim's shoulder blades held high, "If you look closer, you note 3 small puncture wounds just at the _Scapula_." Craning her neck, Catherine managed to get a glimpse of the called out photo and saw the 3 dots set in like a triangle.

"A vampire with 3 canines in a pyramid form?" Warrick shared the particular picture with Greg. 

"This are too small to be teeth marks," The doctor had obviously missed on Warrick's little joke.

"Could be a sort off administering agent." Grissom never took his eyes from the printed images. "What about this one?" he pulled one out and flashed it at the others.

Catherine lifted an eyebrow as she realized she was holding unto the particular gem. "That bluish black ring is so not this years fashion statement," The mark about as big as a dime stood out against the deathly pale skin on the base of the neck. "One at the shoulder another at the neck. Any connections?" She thought aloud to Nadine who shrugged and looked back at the supervisor.

"With a diameter of a dime and small needle point. That." The coroner sighed, "I have no idea yet."

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Tossing the empty juice container into the bin, Sara looked up to see Nadine talking to Alexis. She wasn't trying to eavesdrop, it was just an accident. Or at least that's what she made herself believe it was. Besides, it wasn't like they were hiding anything.

"What's with the scratching?" Nadine's red highlights bounced as she swished her head to the side a little.

Alexis kept on doing her bit of easing her rash, "I have no idea, it suddenly just went 'BOOM'. Major rash."

"Ple-ase go and check it out. You look like you're going to take your arm off that way." Nadine snatched Alexis' hand and stopped her from making the rash worse. Taking the swollen red hand into her own, Nadine softly touched it. "What in the world did you do?"

"Nothing!" Alexis screamed in a hushed voice. Sara busied herself with a foam box she was about to ditch, making extra sure that it was flattened. "It wasn't my fault that red haired woman had an obsession with physical contact through hands. Like I would know she had something I would react to."

Letting go off the hand gently, Nadine looked up. "What woman?"

Alexis shook her head. "Some red head crashed into Catherine and apologized with a little too much enthusiasm." She scratched again. "Nothing much, so I'm allergic to something. No biggie."

"Stop it." Nadine gripped the arm once more. 

Sara realized that if she spent another 2 more seconds trying to squish box smaller than a trash compactor would, she would need a good explanation why. Dumping it in the trash, Sara breezed out the room and towards the labs.

Again.

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"They're suspecting something Adam." Jesse pointed it out.

Frowning, Shalimar crossed her arms tighter, "Should we get rid of the bugs now?"

Adam tapped the table of Sanctuary's console, "Not yet. We need more information like this."

"From what we can hear," Emma licked her lips and said referring to the last photo shown. Thanks to one of the CSI's they have a pretty good detail of it, "We now know that a sub-dermal governor was used."

"We can't be sure of that." Brennan was sceptical. 

"Brennan's right." Jesse backed up, "All we hear are descriptions."

"That's why we can't destroy those devices now." Adam defended his decision. "We need more."

"But why can't we just actually get the two new mutants help?" The feral asked her fiery impatience was rising.

"We can't just barge into their lives, demand they help us out and risk their jobs." Emma answered realizing it.

Merely nodding, Adam let the telempath explain. 

"So we let this continue?" Jesse cracked his knuckles, probably an unconscious habit. Something Emma hadn't realized.

"For now, yes." Adam breathed the obvious.

Setting themselves quiet, the team exchanged glances and remained silent.

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Ah, another chapter done. This is long overdue, and RK9 knows that. The girl has been bugging me day and night about this. My cell phone doesn't stop because of it. But it was good or else I would've procrastinated till next year. Hope you like this. I'm trying to speed things up so that we can all get an equal balance of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Mutant X. So be patient ;)

Thanks and do drop a review or two. =^_^=

Regards

Freak@ngel/frickangel and RK9


	4. Update

Hiya, Ok, I'm really sorry for not updating, I know it's been pretty much and eternity and no one knows it better than I do. Believe me, I do know, because I have a sister breathing down my neck about this fic  
  
_Points innocently at RK9_  
  
I've been getting some nice emails from some people about me continuing this fic, and my other _un-finished_ fics. I have this rather hectic job and I'm gonna have some time off soon to write this again, soon as I remember what I was writing about.  
  
So yeah, thanks.  
  
Regards  
frickangel/Freakngel 


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